Jay Gatsby is the title character of The Great Gatsby. He is around thirty years old and who rose from an impoverished childhood to become fabulously wealthy. He achieved this wealth and luxurious lifestyle by participating in organized crime distributing illegal alcohol and trading in stolen goods. Gatsby despised his childhood poverty and longed for wealth and sophistication. He first met and fell in love with Daisy as a young military officer before leaving to fight in World War I in 1917.

He knew that Daisy possessed grace, charm and wealth, so he lied to her about his own background in order to convince her that he was good enough for her. Daisy promised to wait for him when he left for the war, but married Tom Buchanan in 1919, while Gatsby was studying at Oxford after the war in an attempt to gain an education. From that moment on, Gatsby dedicated himself to winning Daisy back, and his acquisition of millions of dollars, his purchase of a gaudy mansion on West Egg, and his lavish weekly parties part of an intricate plan to win and woo her.